Month: March 2015

The first ASAP column for 2015 in Anthropology News is now available on the AAA website and also on the ASAP website (link is below). The column is by the new column editors, Judi Pajo and Theodore Powers. The column provides both a review of ASAP activities at the last AAA meeting in Washington, and also some opening comment on what an anthropology of energy, waste, and health policy might be.

The Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA) is pleased to launch its 2015 prize for the book that best exemplifies the ethnographic exploration of politics, law, and/or their interstices. The 2015 APLA book prize will be awarded at the American Anthropological Association meeting in Denver. It carries an award of $1,000. The winning book will be reviewed in PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review and may be featured at a roundtable or author-meets-readers session at the AAA meeting. An honorable mention may be identified by the committee, if appropriate.

ELIGIBILITY:

To be eligible for consideration, a book must examine law and/or politics ethnographically, and must have been published in English. The book must have been published during the year prior to the competition (2014). Either single- or multi-authored books are eligible, however edited volumes, reference works, or second editions of previously published works are excluded from consideration. Books translated into English from another language are eligible for consideration. In such cases, the year that the translation was published is considered the year of publication for purposes of eligibility.

NOMINATION PROCESS:

Books may be nominated by the author(s), the press, or an APLA member. Nominations must be accompanied by a nominating letter. Send the letter and a copy of the nominated book no later than May 1, 2015 directly to each of the APLA book prize committee members: Lori Allen, Department of Anthropology, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom; Karin Friederic, Wake Forest University, Department of Anthropology, 1834 Wake Forest Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27106; Roberto Gonzalez, Department of Anthropology, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0113; and Andrea Ballestero, MS 20, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005. Address inquiries to the Chair of Book Prize Committee, Andrea Ballestero, [email protected]. Visit our website at www.politicalandlegalanthro.org to learn more about APLA.

Call for participation – AAA in DenverRoundtable on the Anthropology of Cannabis Policy

Participants are sought for a Roundtable on the Anthropology of Cannabis Policy for the 2015 Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Denver organized by the Association for the Anthropology of Policy. We are looking for a mix of anthropologists and non-anthropologists who deal with cannabis policy, cannabis use in all contexts, and governmental relations. Please note that participation as a presenter in a roundtable is considered a primary role. Presenters may not submit abstracts for individual paper participation in other panels. No abstract is required for presenters in this roundtable, but presenters must be members of the AAA and be registered for the conference. In the case of outside practitioners, waivers of registration and membership will be sought from the AAA. Please send an indication of interest in participation and suggestions for other participants to William O. Beeman, University of Minnesota <[email protected]>

Our interest in the topic comes from our desire to engage the theoretical and methodological challenges of doing an anthropology of relationships among nations, focusing specifically on questions of public policy, cultural diplomacy, development relations, etc. For this panel, we’re envisioning a panel comprised of folks with demonstrated, long-term research in distinct areas of global interest, but a common emphasis on rethinking both the global landscape (especially in light of the rise of the BRICS, etc.) and anthropology’s ability to engage relations among nations in a way that goes beyond just local-global reverberations.

Call for Papers, AAA 2015: Document-ing Power in an Age of Accountability
Organizer: Kathleen Inglis, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, Simon Fraser University

Studies in institutional ethnography, science and technology, and literacy have taught us that texts (including their material forms) play a central role in the cultural and institutional deployment of governance. In a neoliberal world increasingly preoccupied with accountability—is this policy working? Is this procedure profitable? Is this program on-course? Are these people performing well? How can this technique be more efficient?—texts have become progressively crucial to regulation. Their increasing use is also due to recent technological developments which have made information-sharing about the progress of policies and programs possible to a new degree (for instance, in the forms of computer databases and software, and the internet). This means that ethnographic research that recognizes the power of texts in organizing and naturalizing policies and people’s activities is especially currently salient.

The CoGEA Award (formerly known as the Squeaky Wheel Award), sponsored by the AAA Committee on Gender Equity in Anthropology (CoGEA), recognizes individuals whose service to the discipline, and collective spirit of whose research, teaching and mentoring, demonstrates the courage to bring to light and investigate practices in anthropology that are potentially sexist and discriminatory based on gender presentation.